New moorings would protect eelgrass in West Falmouth

By Jessica Hilljhill@capecodonline.com

Tuesday

Jan 7, 2020 at 9:02 PMJan 8, 2020 at 6:33 AM

FALMOUTH — West Falmouth Harbor could get an environmentally friendly makeover below its surface.

The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Monday to approve a letter of authorization for the Buzzards Bay Coalition’s application for a grant that would replace some conventional moorings with new ones that are designed to reduce impacts on eelgrass.

“I think it’s important for us to look for opportunities to improve the environment whenever we can,” said Selectman Doug Brown, the board's vice chairman.

The current moorings in the harbor can shift, dragging on the seafloor and killing eelgrass, an important habitat for shellfish and other marine life.

“Eelgrass is a critical resource for habitat within coastal waters,” said Maureen Thomas, resource specialist with the coalition. “We would like to bring that eelgrass back that has been lost with traditional moorings.”

The eelgrass population has seen an extensive decline due to physical disturbances such as shellfishing, construction and damage from boating, according to the Center for Coastal Studies.

West Falmouth Harbor has more than 270 moorings, Thomas said. The grant, if approved, would replace about 30 conventional moorings in the outer harbor, she said.

Conventional moorings, Thomas explained, have a bigger anchor than conservation moorings and have a larger environmental footprint. When a tide or storm moves the boat from above, the anchor can drag through and rip out the eelgrass.

The new conservation moorings, however, use helix anchors that are screwed into the seafloor sediment.

“If they’re installed correctly, they will not move around,” Thomas said. “They are more stable, they have a smaller footprint and it’s been shown that they have better holding power for boats.”

Joe Costa, executive director of the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program, said that conservation moorings use an elastic rode system instead of chains, which can scrape across the harbor bottom and disrupt eelgrass and marine life.

“We’ve been encouraging towns to adopt this approach for a long time,” Costa said.

Thomas said there was once a large scallop population in West Falmouth Harbor, but the population has decreased. She hopes the scallop population will return with eelgrass restoration.

“We’re hopeful that they will,” she said. “There certainly should be a better population. If we’re able to do as many moorings as we’re hoping to do, there could be a real impact.”

Eelgrass has also been shown to create more resilience to storm surges, Thomas said.

Each mooring costs between $2,500 to $3,000, Thomas said, but if the $100,000 grant is approved, Buzzards Bay Coalition will search for the best option and conduct a cost comparison. Thomas also hopes that parts of the conventional moorings can be reused to cut down on cost.

The grant is part of the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency Natural Resource Damages Restoration Fund, which started from settlement money won following an oil spill in 2003, Thomas said.

The coalition’s grant application is part of a larger project to restore West Falmouth Harbor, Thomas said. The organization has been working to reduce nitrogen pollution and conserve forest and salt marshes around the harbor.

The mooring project would not be the first in the area. The state Division of Marine Fisheries and the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership has replaced some conventional moorings with conservation moorings in an effort to restore eelgrass in Buzzards Bay.

“We have seen that these eelgrass populations have been improved with these new moorings when they are installed and maintained correctly,” said Tay Evans, marine fisheries biologist with the Division of Marine Fisheries.

The mooring project is a community effort, Thomas said, noting that the town, Harbormaster Gregg Fraser and the West Falmouth Boat Club are collaborating with the coalition on the project.

The grant will be announced some time early February, Thomas said. If awarded, the grant contract would start in early March.

Follow Jessica Hill on Twitter: @jess_hillyeah.

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